This invention relates generally to the field of nucleic amplification and probing, and more particularly, to methods and compositions for performing PCR and probe hybridization using a single reagent mixture.
Nucleic acid amplification techniques provide powerful tools for the study of genetic material. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) in particular has become a tool of major importance finding applications in cloning, analysis of genetic expression, DNA sequencing, genetic mapping, drug discovery, criminal forensics, and the like, e.g., Innis et al. in PCR Protocols A guide to Methods and Applications, Academic Press, San Diego (1990); and U.S. Pat. Nos. 4,683,195, 4,683.
For many important applications, in addition to amplifying a target nucleic acid sequence, it is desirable to further characterize such sequence by treatment with a nucleic acid hybridization probe, i.e., a labeled single stranded polynucleotide which is complementary to all or part of the target sequence, e.g., Nucleic Acid Hybridization, Hames et al. Eds., IRL Press, Oxford (1985). Probe hybridization may provide additional sequence selectivity over simple PCR amplification as well as allowing for the characterization of multiple sequence sites within the target nucleic acid sequence in an independent manner.
Traditionally, PCR and probe hybridization processes have been performed as separate operations. However, it is highly desirable to perform both the PCR and the probe hybridization reactions in a combined manner using a single reagent mixture containing both PCR reagents and probing reagents. There are several advantages realized by combining the PCR and the probing process: (i) only a single reagent addition step is required, thereby allowing the combined reactions to proceed without having to open up the reaction tube, thereby reducing the opportunity for sample mix-up and sample contamination; (ii) fewer reagents are needed; (iii) fewer reagent addition steps are required, making automation more straight forward; and, (iv) in the case of in situ methods, there is no requirement to take apart a sample containment assembly used to protect the integrity of the cellular sample during thermocycling.
One existing method which combines PCR with hybridization probing in a single reaction is the technique know as “Taqman”, e.g., Holland et al, Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 88: 7276-7280 (1991). In the Taqman assay, an oligonucleotide probe, nonextendable at the 3′ end, labeled at the 5′ end, and designed to hybridize within the target sequence, is introduced into the PCR reaction. Hybridization of the probe to a PCR reaction product strand during amplification generates a substrate suitable for the exonuclease activity of the PCR polymerase. Thus, during amplification, the 5′→3′ exonuclease activity of the polymerase enzyme degrades the probe into smaller fragments that can be differentiated from undegraded probe. While a significant improvement over prior methods, the Taqman assay has a number of important drawbacks that limit its utility including (i) the requirement that the polymerase enzyme used for the PCR must include a 5′→3′ exonuclease activity, (ii) the 5′→3′ exonuclease activity must be able to efficiently digest a dye-labeled nucleotide, and (iii) the detectable product of the digestion is a small, rapidly diffusable species which may impact the ability to spatially locate the target sequence when applied to in situ methods.
A second existing method which combines PCR with probing in a single reaction is that disclosed by Higuchi et al. in Biotechnology, 10: 413-417 (1992). In this method, ethidium bromide is added to the PCR reaction and, since the fluorescence of the ethidium bromide increases in the presence of double stranded DNA, an increase in fluorescence can be correlated with the accumulation of double stranded PCR product. However, this method does not provide any sequence specificity beyond the PCR reaction and is limited to the detection of a single sequence site within the target nucleic acid sequence.
A third method which allows for combined amplification and probing steps is that of Bagwell in EP 0601889A2. The probe in Bagwell's method includes a nucleotide sequence which has (i) a segment complementary to the target nucleic acid and (ii) a segment capable of forming one or more hairpins. The probe also includes covalently attached fluorescer and a quencher molecules located such that when a hairpin is formed, the fluorescer and quencher are in close enough proximity to allow resonance energy transfer between them. This method has the significant short coming that it limits the possible probe sequences to those capable of forming a hairpin structure. Moreover, the kinetics and thermodynamics of probe-target binding will be unfavorably affected by the presence of the hairpin structure.